Automatic releaser for fire-doors, fire-shutters, &amp;c.



No. 872,680. PATBNTBD DEO, s, 1907. H. J. PODLEAK. AUTOMATIC RBLBASBR FOR PIRE DOORS, PIRE SHUTTBRS, aw.

'A'PPLIUATION FILED JULY 5, 1902.

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No. 872,680. y PATBNTED DEC, s, 1907.

H. J. PODLBSK. AUTOMATIC RELEASBR POR FIRE DOORS, FIRE SHUTTBRS, am.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6, 1902.

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5 Mill VV v V WITNESSES I N VE NTOR www @paw/6 HENRY JOSEPH PODLEK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

.AUTOMATIC RELEASER FOR FIRE-DOORS, FIRE-SHUTTERS, &c.

Specification of Iletters Patent.

Patented Dec.v3, 1907.

Application led July 5. 1902. Serial No. 114.405.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, HENRY JOSEPH PoDLEK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicavo, in the county of Cook, 'State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Releasers for Fire-Doors, Fire-Shutters, &c.,` `sand do hereby declare the following to be a clear, full, and exact description of the invention, such as would enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to im rovements in devices for holding the reoors and iireshutters open, normally, and for releasing these in case of fire in the building to allow them to close and thus shut the draft openin@r to prevent the fire from spreading.

lhe device is intended to replace the fusible metal strips now usually placed on firedoors and fire-shutters, which fusible metal strips are placed'in the doorway and are supposed to melt, when the iire reaches them, and thus release the door or shutter, allowin it to close. My device will close all the 're-doors and iire-shutters before the fire reaches these and thus prevent the fire from spreadin The draft openings in a building shoul be closed and hermetically sealed iefore the flames reach and beat through them long enough to melt any metal.

To this end my invention consists in certain novel constructions, combinations, and

arrangements of parts in a device of the class described as will be hereinafter more fully described and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

Referrm r to the accom anyin drawings, in which li :e numerals re er to li re parts:- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a door equipped with one form of the releaser. Fig. 2 1s a side elevation of the releaser shown in Fig. 1, the view being full size of the device suit- 'able for any ordinary size of fire-door or shutter.- Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a door e uipped with another form of releaser W `ch is operated by Huid pressure. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a releaser in which the reversed form of toggle lever is used, and, as shown, is adapted to be operated by iiuid pressure. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the pivoted or trunnioned section of the toggle lever of Fig. 4, showin@r the wing w which receives the impact of the iiuid pressure, to

tripi the toggle lever at releasiig. a

agrammatic view, showing the arrange- .ments of thermostatic circuits, release circuits, electromagnetic switch, p` ing for the iuid under pressure and an el trical device for operating the valve to tur, on the iiuid under pressure in case of a fire.

Referring to Fig. 1, numeral 1 designates a ire door adapted to travel on a horizontal track 2. The door is shown open, being held so by the releaser which is suitably situated on, and secured to the wall A weightv 3 is attached to the door, as shown, by means of a rope, of suflicient weight and height above the floor to close the door when this is released. A hook 1l, is suitably attached to the door so as to engage the free end 9, of to gle section 5, when the door is pushed wi e Fig. 6 is open. Referring now to Fig. 2 also, 21 i designates a frame or base on which the various parts are mounted. The toggle lever consists of. two sections, 5 and 5, One end of the section 5 is pivoted to the 'base 21 at 7, and its other end is joined to section 5a at 6. The free end o? section 5a normally rests on the'stop 8. The jointed end of the section 5 is provided with a projection 17. The purposes of this projection 17 are to limit the uward movement of the joint 6, and to e ect a downward movement of said joint upon the movement of the armature 14. The upward movement of the joint 6, is effected by the helical spring 16, which is coiled around pivot 7, and is arrested by the adjustable stop 30 which engages with the lip of the rojection 17. The stop 30 is arranged and) adjusted to allow the toggle lever to take a slight set upward, that is, allow the center of the joint 6 to pass a little above a straight line between the center of pivot 7, and the point of contact of the hook 11, and the free end of section 5a at 9. If now, the toggle lever being in the position shown by full lines, having a slight set" upward, a ull be exerted on the free end of the toggle ever, at 9, as it would be by the door, or rather by the weight 3, through the hook 11, the joint 6 would tend to move upward, but the upward movement is arrested by the stop 30, and hence the toggle lever will remain rigid, and hence h old the hook 1 1, and the door 1. When the upward set of the toggle lever is only small only a very little resistance is required tohold the togg nd, likewise 1t does not require much effort to bring the toggle lever to a downward set, even when the pull of the hook 1 1, tending to retain the upward set, is quite considerable. Now if the toggle le ver is given a downward set, the pull of the hook 11 will tend to increase this set, and there being nothing provided nor desired to determine the magnitude of the downward set, the toggle lever will bend at its joint 6, and will assume some such position as is shown by the dotted lines, when the hook 11 will be released and the door free to close. To bring the toggle lever from an upward set to a downward set, or in other words, to shift or bend the toggle lever out of its rigid position, I provide an electromagnet 12. This electro-magnet is provided with a movable pivoted armature 14, and is so mounted on the base that a hook 16, which is secured to the armature 14, will engage the lip of projection 17 upon the movement of the armature, and pull or shift the toggle lever from its upward set or rigid position, into a downward set, Numerals 2O designate the terminals of the electro-magnet coils.

The spring 16 is provided for the purpose of making the releaser self-setting. It will bring the toggle lever to its normal or rigid position as shown, as soon as the hook 11 has passed away with the door, after having been released. The toggle lever is thus always in position to engage and hold the hook 11 Whenever the door has been pushed wide open.

It may be remarked that an ordinary electric door bell battery is amply strong to operate a releaser of the above form, for any size of fire-door.

The door 1, though shown adapted to travel on horizontal tracks, may be adapted to slide or travel on inclined tracks, or on vertical tracks or be hinged, the releaser being suitably mounted and attached to obtain the above results.

Fig. 8 shows a fire-door adapted to travel on an inclined track, and a liquid pressure operated releaser mounted on the door itself. The frame or base of this form of releaser is made of strap iron and is placed in the position usually occupied by the fusible strip frame, and the door is balanced to stay normally open, by means of a rope and a weight 3, as is usually done in the fusible stri arrangement. The rope terminates in a hoor 11, which is adapted to engage withA the end of arm 9b, of a bell crank lever b as shown. This bell crank lever is pivoted at c, and its arm 9a is adapted to engage the free end 9 of the toggle section 5, The section 5 of the toggle lever is pivoted to the frame 21 at 7, and the joint 6 of the two sections is made to take a slight set by means Aand the hook 11a, on the arm 9b of lever b, tends to push the arm 9a upwards, but this upward movement is resisted by the toggle lever, when in its rigid position, as shown by full lines in Fig. 5. As long as the toggle lever remains in this rigid position the lever b cannot turn on its pivot o, and the hook 11a cannot disengage itself and hence the door will stay open bei-ng held so by the weight 3. N ow if water or other liquid under pressure is admitted into the pipe p, it will issue from the nozzle n, and being directed against the wing w, will carry the joint 6 from the screw 30, shifting the toggle lever out of its rigid position. The toggle lever and the bell crank lever I), will be brought into some such position as shown by the dotted lines, by the pull due to the weight 8, allowing the hook 11a to be disengaged from arm 9b. The door will then be released from its balancing weight 3, and will be free to close by its own weight. The toggle lever need not be mounted in a vertical position as shown; it may be mounted in a manner similar to that shown in Fig. 1, when the bell crank lever b would not be necessary. If so mounted the nozzle would be arranged to direct the stream downward. The purpose of mounting the parts as shown in Fig. 3 is tobe able to sprinkle the door and the doorway by the operating li uid. The liquid for operating this form o releaser may be automatically admitted into thefpiping byumeans of an electrical device, this being operated by the use of suitable thermostatie devices, and adapted to turn the supplyor admission valve to the piping, as shown'in Fig. 6.

Fig. 4 shows^the simplest form of my releaser. It is adapted to be secured to the frame usually put on fire-doors for holding the fusible strip. The base 21 may, however, be made of any desired shape or size to suit any particular make or size of the fusible strip frame. 'The members or sections 5 and 5, when connected as, and in the position, shown by the full lines in Fig. 4, form a toggle lever of the reversed form, in its rigid or restraining position. by 'the hook of the section 5 engaging on a projection 6a, secured to the section 5. The two sections 5 and 5a are not permanently joined together, the section 5EL being utilized to serve as the hook 11, the rope being attached directly tothe section. The rigid position of the toggle lever is determined y the screw 30, and, as shown the shifting out of this rigid position is effected by liquid pressure, but other means for this shifting may be employed. Otherwise the operation is the same as has already been explained for my other forms.

In Fig. 6, the thermostatic circuits are shown by the dotted lines and the release 1o circuits y full lines, which are provided with separate batteries or other source of current. The release circuit is closed by an electro-magnetic switch 22, which in turn is operated by the thermostats. 23 designates an auxiliary circuitv leading to door bells, etc., for which the batteries may be used at the same time. a is a release circuit leading to a door equipped with anA electrically actuated releaser, such as shown 20 in Fig. 1, where connection would be made to-binding posts 20. The thermostats 25, as shown, are of the open circuit type, being closed by any abnormal rise of temperature. However, any form of ther- 25 mostats may be used. The closing of any one of the thermostats will cause the electromagnetic switch to close the release circuit,

thus ener rizing the electro-magnets therein,

which wil in turn attract the armatures and release the doors or shutters as above described. The lever L of the valve V is held in such a position, by the toggle lever R, as to hold the valve closed, but as soon as the release circuit is closed it will release lever L and the weight C will pull the lever down and thus open the valve allowing the liquid which is under pressure in the supply pipe S to iiow into pipes I), B, 8s p, which lead to fire-doors, equipped with releasers as shown at top, door 1, and terminate in nozzles n which direct the stream against the wings w, for the purpose of bending the toggle levers out of the rigid position and thus releasing the doors and shutters.

A hand switch 3l (one or more of them) may be provided for closing the fire-doors at will from any point within or without the building. Also the release circuit may be suitably extended to alarm bells to give alarm within or without the building. The

batteries may be used for call bells, annunciators, etc.

I do not limit the use of this invention to fire-doors and fire-shutters, as it may be employed for automatically closing or opening valves, for releasing levers or other devices, for the purpose of starting or stopping of machinery, etc. etc.

Having thus described my invention, and

without limiting myself to precise constructions shown, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination, in automatic release devices of the class described, of a toggle lever consisting of two sections, arranged and .adapted to assume a rigid position, with a means for determining said rigid position of the toggle lever, a means of shifting the toggle lever out of its rigid position, and a means of connecting a movable member, to be released, with said to gle lever when this is in its rigid position, su stantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In automatic release devices, the combination of a toggle lever consisting of two sections, one section being ivoted to a frame and connected with the ot er section so that the two may assume a rigid position, a means to determine and retain said rigid position of the toggle lever, a means of engaging the toggle lever with a movable member to be released, for the purpose of holding said movable member when the toggle lever is in its rigid position, with a means for shifting the toggle lever out of its rigid position, in order to release said movable member, to allow the same to move, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

8. In automatic release devices of the class described, the combination oftwo members or sections one of which is pivoted on a suitable frame the other section being connected to a movable member and adapted to so connect with the first said section that the tWo sections form a toggle lever in a certain and rigid position, a means for determining and retaining said rigid position of the toggle lever, a movable member to be held in some predetermined position, a means for shifting said toggle lever out of said rigid position and so releasing the said movable member and allowing it to move, and a means for operating said shifting means, substantially as set forth.

4. In automatic release devices the combination, of a toggle lever adapted to assume, and to normally be, in a rigid position, with a movable member, a means. of connecting said movable member with the toggle lever, whereby the said movable member may be held in a predetermined position; a means for shifting the toggle lever out of its rigid position to allow the disengagement of the said means of connection from the toggle lever, and a means for operating said means for shifting the toggle lever, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. In automatic release devices of the class described, the combination of a toggle lever, normally held in a rigid position, a movable member, a connection between said movable member and the toggle lever, with a means for shifting or bending said toggle lever out of its rigid position, an electric circuit containing a source of electric current, an electro-magnetic switch, and thermostatic devices, said thermostatic devices being arranged to cause, when the temperature vin their proximity reaches a dangerous point or degree, said electro-magnetic switch to close a second electric circuit, which contains a, In testimony whereof I have signed my source of electrlc current and release devlces, name to this speolfioation 1n the presence of said release devices being adapted to actuate two subscribing,r Witnesses.

other devices, controlling the means` for HENRY JOSEPH PODLESK. .5 bending said toggle lever out of its rigid posi- Witnesses:

tion, substantially as and for the purposes B. R. BENJAMIN,

set forth. CHAS. E. CURTISS. 

